frame for learners of EnglishPowered by COBUILD (freɪm)

Word forms: frames, framing, framed

Definitions

1. countable noun

The frame of a picture or mirror is the wood, metal, or plastic that is fitted around it, especially when it is displayed or hung on a wall. ⇒ Estelle kept a photograph of her mother in a silver frame on the kitchen mantelpiece. ⇒ ...a pair of picture frames.

2. countable noun

The frame of an object such as a building, chair, or window is the arrangement of wooden, metal, or plastic bars between which other material is fitted, and which give the object its strength and shape. ⇒ He supplied housebuilders with modern timber frames. ⇒ With difficulty he released the mattress from the metal frame, and groped beneath it. ⇒ We painted our table to match the window frame in the bedroom.

3. countable noun [usu pl]

The frames of a pair of glasses are all the metal or plastic parts of it, but not the lenses. ⇒ He was wearing new spectacles with gold wire frames.

4. countable noun [oft poss N]

You can refer to someone's body as their frame, especially when you are describing the general shape of their body. ⇒ Their belts are pulled tight against their bony frames.

5. countable noun

A frame of cinema film is one of the many separate photographs that it consists of. ⇒ Standard 8mm projects at 16 frames per second.

6. adjective [ADJ n]

A frame building is one in which pieces of wood form the most important part of the structure, rather than bricks or stone. [US] ⇒ He lives in a white-painted frame house behind a picket fence up in Connecticut.

7. verb [usu passive]

When a picture or photograph is framed, it is put in a frame. [beV-ed] ⇒ The picture is now ready to be mounted and framed. [V-ed] ⇒ On the wall is a large framed photograph.

8. verb [usu passive]

If an object is framed by a particular thing, it is surrounded by that thing in a way that makes the object more striking or attractive to look at. [beV-ed prep] ⇒ The swimming pool is framed by tropical gardens. [beV-ed prep] ⇒ An elegant occasional table is framed in the window.

9. verb

If someone frames something such as a set of rules, a plan, or a system, they create and develop it. [written]formulate [V n] ⇒ After the war, a convention was set up to frame a constitution.

10. verb

If someone frames something in a particular style or kind of language, they express it in that way. [beV-ed prep/adv] ⇒ The story is framed in a format that is part thriller, part love story. [V n n] ⇒ He framed this question three different ways in search of an answer. [Also V n prep/adv]

11. verb

If someone frames an innocent person, they make other people think that that person is guilty of a crime, by lying or inventingevidence. [informal] [V n] ⇒ I need to find out who tried to frame me. [V n] ⇒ He claimed that he had been framed by the police.

Example sentences containing 'frame'

I sat on the edge of the chair, the seat frame cutting me across the back of the legs.Robert Wilson A DARKENING STAINI don't think you're in any frame of mind to be going around pointing guns at people.Robert Wilson BLOOD IS DIRTThe second kickjerked the door out of the frame , leaving it swinginginwards.Val McDermid KICK BACK